Welcome to the Braves Farm Report, where we will take a look at the Braves farm system and look at trends and players that seem interesting, and give first hand accounts of what we’re seeing down on the farm.
Also be sure to check out the OFR Farm Report Podcast where we discuss these events and give opinions and commentary.
First Look: Spencer Strider
On Friday night, I was able to finally get a look at 2020 fourth-round pick Spencer Strider, the right-hander from Clemson that has been striking out essentially everyone since emerging from extended spring training. Strider was making a start for the Rome Braves on Friday, June 18 against the Bowling Green Hot Rods, which boasts one of the better line-ups at the high-A level. This was my second attempt to get to Strider after getting rained out the week before.
Strider has a relatively slight frame, measuring at 6′-0″ and 195 pounds, but it’s well distributed with a strong lower half that allows him to explode out of his relatively uncomplicated wind-up. He hides the ball well before releasing the ball out of a three-quarters arm slot. Most Hot Rod hitters had awkward, defensive swings that indicate they were having difficulty picking up the ball out of his hand despite the good late-afternoon sunshine.
As it so happens, earlier in the day Fangraphs published a deep-dive interview with Strider where he talked extensively about his repertoire. I already knew to expect high-velocity four-seamers and a developing breaking ball based on my video views of him, but this gave fresh context to what I was looking at. Strider throws his 4-seam fastball with conviction and velocity, typically up in the zone, though even if when he pushed it lower and over the plate, Bowling Green hitters tended make weak contact or swing through it. The only damage done against Strider was on a 4-seamer that was thrown low and over the plate on a first pitch to slugger Niko Hulsizer, who deposited it over the fence in left for the only run and only hit against Strider for the outing.
Per the Fangraphs interview, Strider has moved away from the loopy curveball that he showed in college to a harder slider/curve similar to Luke Jackson‘s breaking ball. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
That was his best breaker of the night. There were times where it still was a little loopy and would hang, but with hitters having to respect the high-90s fastball, he was able to get away with them.
Strider stayed around the zone, but he’s definitely a control-over-command pitcher, spraying pitches in and around the strikezone, but with the plus-plus fastball and the breaker it pretty much doesn’t matter right now. With just his stuff he clearly outclassed one of the best high-A line-ups in the minors right now, and reports are that he will soon make his AA Mississippi debut. Strider should be ready for the increased competition. -AH
AUGUSTA:
The GreenJackets went on the road this week, taking the short bus ride up I-20 to Columbia to play the Fireflies. The Jackets went 2-3 on the the week with a Sunday rainout that is scheduled to be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday, July 24. Augusta now sits third in their division, 7.5 games back of the Charleston RiverDogs, the Jackets’ next opponent on their road trip, just a 2-hour bus ride south on I-26.
Augusta hasn’t gotten a lot of production from the first base position most of the season, but that changed this week as both Landon Stephens (.313/.500/.875, 3 HR, 6 RBI) and Bryson Horne (.364/.417/.727, first pro HR) were locked in, and Stephens earned this week’s OFR Position Player of the Week. Former Georgia shortstop Cam Shepherd, hitting a disappointing .137/.248/.189 coming into the series, had his best series as a pro, going 5-for-13 in four games. Infielder Cade Bunnell had 6 walks this week, adding to his league-leading 36; Bunnell now owns a .396 OBP against a .220 batting average. After leading the Augusta offense for the last several weeks, both infielder Vaughn Grissom and outfielder Willie Carter had relative down weeks, with Grissom going 3-for-19 (2 2B, SB), and Carter 3-for-15 (2 2B).
On the pitching side, Darius Vines continued his good run, getting a career high 10 strikeouts in his start and allowing 3 runs (2 earned) in 6 innings without walking anyone. Right-hander Jared Johnson‘s second start of the season was much like his first, though he only allowed 1 run in 3 innings despite allowing 7 baserunners. Right-hander Joey Estes gave up more than 1 earned run for the first time this season, allowing 4 in his start punctuated by two homers, though he also pitched a season-high 6 innings. Augusta’s relief corps was strong this week, with eight pitchers throwing at least one inning on the week without allowing a a run. James Acuna and Gabriel Rodriguez were particularly impressive, striking out the side in two innings apiece.
ROME:
Rome dropped 3 of 4 contests at home this week against first-place Bowling Green before tropical storm Claudette washed away the weekend. The teams will make up the games when the Hot Rods return to Rome in three weeks. The Braves drop back to .500 at 20-20, now 7 games back of first.
Outfielder Jesse Franklin continued his blistering June, this week going 7-for-14 with a home run, a double, 5 RBI, and two stolen bases, as well as playing a sparkling right field. For the month, Franklin is hitting .413/.471/.891 and he now leads the team in home runs (6), stolen bases (10), and OPS (.819). Catcher Logan Brown doubled his hit total for the month in the series, going 4-for-7 in three games. The rest of the team had a rather lackluster 4 games offensively however; Michael Harris only hit .235/.235/.294 on the week despite continued loud contact. First baseman Bryce Ball continued his June swoon, and he’s now hitting .186/.308/.256 for the month.
Right-hander Spencer Strider had the best of his three starts for Rome as detailed above, enough to earn him his first OFR Pitcher of the Week nod. Despite still being limited to 50 pitches, lefty Jared Shuster had his best start of the season, going 4 scoreless innings and only allowing two baserunners while striking out six. Touki Toussaint made a rehab start on Tuesday and looked sharp in his 28 pitches, getting through 3 innings and only allowing one run on one hit, a solo homer. Right-hander Freddy Tarnok piggybacked with him and had a rough time, only getting 4 batters out before hitting his 50 pitch limit and allowing 6 runs to cross. Left-hander Davis Schwab and right-handers Zach Daniels, Indigo Diaz, and Kasey Kalich each pitched at least two scoreless relief innings.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves returned home after a two-week road trip to begin a two-week homestand with a six-game set against the Birmingham Barons. After dropping the opening game of the series 7-0, the M-Braves took the next five games including consecutive walk-offs on Saturday (wild pitch) and Sunday (Shea Langeliers home run). As a result, they improved their record to 25-17 for the season, staying just one game back of Pensacola in the Double-A South South Division. The Tennessee Smokie come to town next week to finish out the homestand.
The M-Braves offense was a mixed bag this week, scoring at least seven runs in three games and scoring three or less in the other three contests. Catcher Shea Langeliers had a down week overall in going 3-for-20 but finished strong with his walk-off home run on Sunday. Shortstop Braden Shewmake continued his improvement in going 6-for-21 with two home runs and a double. Outfielder Justin Dean was solid in the leadoff spot (7-for-17, two steals) while Drew Lugbauer went 5-for-12 with two doubles and a home run (and six strikeouts).
Starting pitching was not as dominant as past weeks but still saw some great performances from Nolan Kingham (six shutout innings in his only start), AJ Puckett (five shutout innings in his start), Jose Rodriguez (5.2 IP, 1 ER, 8 K), and Hayden Deal (6 IP, 1 ER). Odalvi Javier had a tough week with one start plus a piggyback appearance behind Touki Toussaint, who made a rehab start in Mississippi on Sunday. Javier gave up six earned runs in 6.2 innings with four walks and eight hits allowed. Touki’s outing lasted just 3.2 innings before leaving due to his pitch around of around 50, he gave up two runs but both scored after he left the game.
The M-Braves bullpen provided another solid week with Brandon White turning in two one-inning scoreless outings while recording a win and a save. Brooks Wilson tallied another 3.1 scoreless innings and six strikeouts, Troy Bacon and Chris Nunn each had a scoreless outing, and Troy Graham and Matt Withrow each gave up just one run over three innings of work. Daysbel Hernandez struck out the side in his only inning of work but was touched up for four hits and two runs.
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers returned home this week to face the Nashville Sounds, taking three out of five games to improve their record to 21-20 on the season, keeping them in fourth place in the Triple-A East Southeast Division, seven games back of Durham. They will next hit the road to face the Norfolk Tides.
The Stripers offense scored eight and nine runs in two of the contests but scored just two in each of the remaining three games. Outfielder Cristian Pache ramped up to full action this week and struggled in going just 3-for-19 with twelve strikeouts. He did hit a double and steal a base, hopefully signaling that his injury is fully healed. Fellow outfielder Drew Waters returned from a thumb injury on Sunday, going 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts in his only game of the week. Shortstop Orlando Arcia was 5-for-17 with two doubles and a home run and also got the start at third base on Sunday, his first start anywhere other than shortstop this season.
Gwinnett’s starting rotation took on a different look this week as Kyle Muller was elevated to Atlanta and Tucker Davidson was injured during his Atlanta start. Bryse Wilson had another impressive start (6 IP, 1 ER, 9 K) before being promoted to Atlanta and Kyle Wright gave up just one run over five innings although he had a lot of traffic on the basepaths (four walks, five hits). Jasseel De La Cruz was rocked in giving up six runs and two home runs in just 3.1 innings while Connor Johnstone struggled in both his starts as an opener (4 IP, 6 H, 4 R).
A number of Gwinnett relievers had solid weeks, including Ty Tice who had two perfect one-inning outings before being promoted to Atlanta on Sunday. Trevor Kelley and Jay Flaa each had two scoreless appearances while Tanner Roark continued to do solid work as Connor Johnstone’s piggyback partner with two two-inning scoreless outings and has not given up a run in his last five outings covering eleven innings. Jesse Chavez had two more scoreless outings and has four scoreless appearances in a row covering six innings with eleven strikeouts.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
6/15/2021: RHP Roddery Munoz and C Javier Valdes placed on 7-day IL for A Augusta; RHP Jake McSteen and C Mitch Calandra assigned to A Augusta from A+ Rome
Munoz and Valdes have been key performers for Augusta this season. Calandra has mostly spent the season on Rome’s Developmental List while McSteen was a mid-season amateur free agent pick-up.
6/16/2021: LHP Tucker Davidson placed on 10-day injured list for Atlanta; LHP Kyle Muller recalled from AAA Gwinnett
Forearm tightness was the diagnosis when Davidson left his start last week, a scary pronouncement as it often is a sign of UCL damage. Fortunately it looks like only inflammation. Muller made his major league debut in relief.
6/16/2021: IF Riley Unroe placed on 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi; OF Tyler Neslony actived from developmental list
6/17/2021: Signed free agent RHP Tyler Ferguson to a minor league free agent contract
6/18/2021: RHP Tyler Ferguson assigned to A+ Rome; RHP Luis Mora place on temporarily inactive list
Ferguson had been with the Chicago Dogs of the independent American Association, pitching to a 3.14 ERA in 9 appearances. The 27-year-old Vanderbilt alum had been a prospect in the Texas Rangers organization until he was released in spring training 2019. He was picked up by the Dodgers for 2020 and seemed about to break camp with a double-A assignment when the pandemic hit. He was released by Los Angeles later that summer.
6/17/2021: RHP Jacob Webb recalled from AAA Gwinnett; LHP Kyle Muller optioned to AAA Gwinnett
Muller pitched an inning of relief. After his awful last three appearances with Atlanta, Webb has regrouped in Gwinnett, allowing 2 earned runs in 6 games with the Stripers since his demotion.
6/18/2021: C Ricardo Rodriguez activated from 7-day injured list for A Augusta; C Mitch Calandra re-assigned to A+ Rome
Augusta gets one of their regular catchers back.
6/20/2021: RHP Jacob Webb optioned to AAA Gwinnett; RHP Bryse Wilson recalled from AAA Gwinnett
6/20/2021: RHP Bryse Wilson optioned to AAA Gwinnett; RHP Ty Tice recalled from AAA Gwinnett
Atlanta’s back-to-back doubleheaders on Sunday and Monday created a flurry of transactions. Webb was optioned back, but was the 27th man for the second game against the Cardinals on Sunday. Wilson got the start in Game 1 and then was immediately optioned to get a fresh arm in the form of Ty Tice, recently acquired from the Blue Jays.
Your Moment of Zen
"That ball was shot out of a cannon!"
Third-ranked #Braves prospect Shea Langeliers blasts off for a 428-foot walk-off homer for the @mbraves 💪 pic.twitter.com/JSk0GIcSuQ
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 21, 2021
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